This Fine Line
by thenopetrain
Summary: Garcia decides to surprise Morgan for the holidays with a little bit of something he's never done before.


**This is my Christmas Fic Gift for ****sangreal7! I hope you like this, the song you picked was amazing and inspiring so it was a definite help on this fic. : ) Merry Christmas!**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own, but thanks for letting me borrow these characters.

**Summary:** I got the prompts: These are Special Times (Celine Dion); a Christmas tree, ice skating, and snowflakes. This is a Garcia and Morgan fic so it's bound to be at least a little mushy xD This is also a little AU…considering there's a brief mentioning of a case I just picked at random.

* * *

Penelope Garcia stared out into the winter evening like a child seeing snow for the first time. Her hands stretched forward greedily as the flakes fell gently onto her gloved hands; a magical smile lighting her face, reaching her eyes, and sparking a feeling of wonderment within her. She adored Christmas. Not in the cliché "OMG IT'S CHRISTMAS TIME!" way, but in a much deeper sense of the holiday; she felt Christmas like it was a part of her. And since the first year she can ever remember being enchanted by the very thought of it, she had strove to make this special day one to always remember. Each Christmas was different, each Christmas was special, and each Christmas was unique. This year was no different. She had successfully spread the holiday cheer to everyone on her team. Hotch had received two extra days off this Christmas weekend to spend with his son because she had "accidentally" happened upon Strauss's calendar and changed all the meetings he would have had to endure tomorrow to Tuesday afternoon. Reid had received a special edition, once in a life time collection, of Christmas stories and their histories; which she had pawned off a local antique book seller. Emily had been a little trickier, but after an hour perusing Prentiss's file, she'd finally come up with two tickets to see the only showing of the Nutcracker Ballet for this evening; effectively giving her a reason to go out on this special night. Rossi had been surprisingly easy this holiday season. She'd decided that a box of embezzled Cuban cigars and a gift card to Vermillions, a nice restaurant that he can possibly take a date to, would suffice. Why she always got stuck on Morgan was beyond her, but every year she wanted to do something memorable, something to make him think of the years prior. And standing outside a Chicago hotel was exactly part of her glorious plan.

* * *

His mother, he'd decided, was ridiculous. No one was open on Christmas, no one. And yet she had decided that she needed MORE eggnog if she were going to effectively call her small family get together a 'Christmas Party'. So here he was, schlepping through the light snow from the parking lot and towards the only open food mart in Chicago, hell in Illinois, just for her. But as he went to tug the door open in frustration, a bubbly, bouncy Penelope Garcia had nearly tackled him into an embrace before he could even touch the handle to the store's door. She immediately dove into a one-sided conversation about how his mom and her had planned the entire thing from the get go and that she was really sorry and hoped that she hadn't dragged him away from too much tonight, and that she promised he'd be back in time to open presents at his family's party. The entire time she'd been talking his earlier frustration had melted away, an enormous smile, dashing and debonair as always, gracing his features as he wrapped his arms around her in another hug.

"Baby Girl, you have an hour and a half until my mother starts ringing you up on her cell." He couldn't help the laugh in his voice, already resigned to their careful ruse as he allowed her to squeal gleefully, offering her his arm, which she snagged at once and began to tug him in the direction of downtown.

"Alright handsome, do you remember what we were talking about the other night in the bullpen with the others? Just after that nasty case in Florida?" Garcia reflexively pulled him closer with her arm, shivering as she remembered the gruesome details. _Stop it, this is Christmas._ She mentally willed herself, a task she found surprisingly easy as he shot her a suspicious glare.

"We're not." He said firmly, though the light smile in his eye was all it took to form a ridiculously evil smirk from his goddess of knowledge; a smile he wasn't entirely sure he liked at the moment.

"Oh but we are. Come on stud, you aren't afraid are you?" Quirking her brow as they walked along, her boots clipping sound off the pavement.

"Me? Afraid?" He balked, shaking his head before looking at her in mock concern. "I just don't want my wonder woman to get hurt. You sure you can handle it?"

"Oh Mon Cheri, it is not I that need fear injury, it is you." Her best and brightest French accent came into play as they rounded the corner and viewed the surprisingly busy ice rink Macy's had set up for this spectacular evening. She shivered as a cold gust of wind blew against them, and he managed to walk even closer in order to warm her up; huddling together as they crossed the street.

"Pen, are you sure it's not too cold?" He asked, letting his eyes take in what she was wearing. Never the realist, she had on a skirt, leggings, boots, and a v-neck shirt, despite the red, winter coat she was sporting. He looked her dead in the eye, fully aware of what that did to her; yet selfishly hoping that it would deter her from this little adventure she hoped to take them on this evening.

"Oh-ho no you don't sugarplum, you aren't getting out of this one." She said with a smile as they approached the rink; watching the laughing and screaming children, the couples, the moms and the dads as they skated around. Morgan had to practically stop her from running full force towards the entrance before letting himself jog beside her; there was no saying 'no' to Penelope Garcia when she was on a mission.

* * *

It took a little doing to get him into his skates, and to get her to stop skating circles around him once they were finally out there on the ice.

"So you've really never been ice skating before?" She said sweetly, too sweetly as she batted her eyes at him.

"I think you're having too much fun. How did you remember that conversation anyway?" He gave her a smirk, folding his arms a little too roughly because they were down at his sides in a second; the skates on his feet sliding.

"Ok, it's like walking…only toes first instead of your heels." She said, rescuing him by grabbing his arm and gliding forward with him a little. "So, what did you get your mom for Christmas?" She asked, hoping that it would get his mind off of this tiny skating ordeal as they began to move around the rink.

"Toes first, huh?" He was so concentrated on moving his feet the right way without falling that he had almost missed her next question. "Oh, I had my sister snatch my mom's gold crucifix from her jewelry box so that I could get it engraved. We gave that to her a year after my dad died…and she really treasures it." He said wistfully as she steered him into a turn. "You know, I never really thought about that necklace until this year; it's weird I guess." She couldn't help but smile, a light roll of her eyes as she drew in a breath of icy air; the smell of snow still in the air despite it having abated a few minutes ago. She knew why it was weird for him, knew that the concept of faith wasn't really an idea that he got along with very well. He could understand the minds of the worst individuals the planet has ever seen, but understanding God was an entirely different story; one she probably wasn't going to bring up tonight. "Plus I just wanted to do something memorable…" He finally said, skating quite easily now.

"She'll love it, sweet cheeks." And with a light push, she slipped her arm out from under his and watched as he gave a surprised look. "See? Not so hard after all." And she gracefully glided up next to him. But after a moment of supreme skating, he began to slip; grabbing her as a life preserver before making them both land on their butts in the middle of the rink; in front of everyone. For a moment they sat their in stunned silence, until Garcia glanced at the stricken face of her handsome compadre. In a second they burst out laughing; laughter that didn't die until their insides hurt, until they were both wiping tears from their eyes. After a moment, Garcia got to her feet, placing her hands on her hips as she stared down at Derek with a false sense of frustration when he offered her his hand to help him up.

"There's no way that that is happening." She laughed, folding her arms as he dropped his hand back down to the ice in a dramatically defeated way.

"Fiiiiiiiine." He complained as he forced himself to his knees, steadily using the front of his skates in order to dig into the ice and give him something sturdy to push off of. It took him three tries until Garcia sighed and yanked him to his feet when he looked like he was about to fall _again_.

"Come on handsome." She giggled, winking at him as she pulled him in the direction of the exit; his mother would literally be calling her in like five minutes.

"I blame you for the massive bruise I'm going to have." He said as he rubbed his right butt-cheek with his free hand, allowing her to guide him to the exit.

"Maybe you should ice it." She snickered as they sat down to pull their skates off. He just laughed, shaking his head as he, thankfully, yanked them off.

* * *

As they pulled up in front of his house twenty minutes later, Garcia spied the huge Christmas tree, decorated with lights, in their front window. It was almost pristine in its adorning of ornaments and tinsel, which were all strategically placed; like something you'd find in a magazine. She loved it, the smoke coming from the chimney, the lights on the outside of the house, the laughter filing out of the cracked front door from the people celebrating good times inside. She opened her door, snatching the gifts she'd brought for Derek's mom and sisters. As she walked up the front steps to the house, the soft music in the background instantly making her self-conscious of her friendship with Derek Morgan. She must have seriously been channeling Celine Dion tonight as the song _These are Special Times_ hummed quietly from inside the house; ignored by everyone else inside as another round of laughter drowned out the music. A hand on her arm made her stop; pivoting to face the gorgeous man she cared so much about. What the hell kind of line were they walking? Friendship, brother and sister, more than just friends? It was such a fine, thin line that she got mixed up in the fun of it all; wondering if her Christmas surprise was enough to maybe make him see that she was willing if he was.

"Baby girl, this was the best night I've had in forever." He said quietly, drawing her to him in a protective hug; wrapping his arms around her just out of sight of the window he was sure his mother was peeking out of.

"I just wanted to make it memorable; to have special times to share with you." She practically buried her face in his jacket, content in just staying there; harbored in the safety that he represented in her life. And as snowflakes descended upon them once again, he placed a gentle kiss on her head…..

* * *

**I have never written a one-shot before….ever. So I'm sorry if the ending sucks! But Merry Christmas! Hope you liked it! **


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